BYU’s run at the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament came to an end in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon, as TCU’s defense bottled up the Cougars in a 63-46 contest.
The top-seeded Horned Frogs held No. 9 seed BYU to 27% shooting — including just 19.4% in the first half — at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City to avoid the upset in a game where the Cougars’ NCAA résumé would have received a major boost with a victory.
Here are three takeaways from the matchup that drops BYU’s overall record to 22-11.
Horned Frogs’ lockdown defense set the tone
TCU entered the contest leading the country in field goal percentage defense, at 33.6%, and the Horned Frogs made things extremely difficult on the offensive end for the Cougars, right from the start.
BYU fell behind 15-2 five minutes into the game and 24-8 after one quarter. At halftime, the Cougars had only 19 points and trailed by 13 as they shot under 20% during the opening 20 minutes.
While BYU’s shooting percentage improved in the second half, the Cougars were playing from behind all day and couldn’t keep pace with the Big 12 regular-season champions.
TCU was particularly disruptive in the paint, as the Horned Frogs blocked nine shots, led by four each from Clara Silva and Kennedy Basham.
BYU made just 6 of 15 layups and was held to 0.676 points per possession.
Top scorers work for points, but TCU’s supporting cast was strong
Friday’s contest featured two of the league’s top guards in TCU’s Olivia Miles, the Big 12 Player of the Year and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, as well as BYU sophomore Delaney Gibb, a first-team All-Big 12 performer.
Horned Frogs forward Marta Suarez is also a first-team all-conference player.
All three of those players had relatively quiet first halves in terms of scoring — Suarez scored six, Gibb had five and Miles was scoreless at the half.
The trio worked for their points and made contributions in other ways as well.
Suarez went 6 for 16 from the field and ended up with 17 points to go with eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Miles didn’t hit her first field goal until late in the third quarter but still had 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting, as well as 10 rebounds, six assists and a block.
Gibb ended up leading BYU with 17 points, though that came on 6-of-22 shooting from the field. She also had seven rebounds, five assists and a steal.
TCU’s supporting cast, particularly Taylor Bigby, also played well. Bigby scored 11 first-quarter points, including three early 3-pointers, to help the Horned Frogs lead by 16 after one period.
What it means for BYU’s NCAA Tournament hopes
The latest bracketology from ESPN’s Charlie Creme on Friday morning moved BYU into the last team out slot, after the Cougars beat rival Utah, another NCAA at-large hopeful, in Thursday’s second round.
That is the most optimistic outlook for BYU among a variety of recently updated women’s bracketology projections.
With the Cougars out of opportunities to make an impression before Selection Sunday on March 15, BYU’s odds seem long to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.
With Friday’s result, BYU is 0-5 against Quad 1 competition and 8-4 against Quad 2.
The Cougars went into the day No. 54 in the NET rankings and No. 43 in the WAB (wins above bubble) rankings.
Two other Big 12 programs viewed as NCAA bubble teams, Arizona State and Colorado, also advanced to the conference tournament quarterfinals and will play later in the day.
A win over TCU would have been the signature victory BYU needed for its NCAA résumé, but now the Cougars will have to sweat things out until Selection Sunday.